The imaginary card I was waving was a yellow not a red, insists Mancini

Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini has defended his recent card waving antics by insisting the card he was waving in last night’s 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic was clearly a yellow and not a red.

Mancini has come under criticism for gesturing at referees to send players off, but he insists that he was gesticulating for a caution rather than for the player to be dismissed.

“I would never use an imaginary red card to influence the referees decision,” he said.

“If people want to imagine that I’m imagining red cards then that is up to them, but if they look more closely at my imaginary card then they will see that it is clearly a yellow card that I’m imagining.”

Mancini waves card

Wayne Rooney hit out at Mancini’s claims and called for the FA to confiscate the former Internazionale and Lazio manager’s stash of imaginary red cards.

“Something needs to be done!” he fumed in one tweet. “I don’t see why the FA can’t stop him taking his imaginary cards into the technical area.”

“The only way to deal with it is for the fourth official to check Mancini’s pockets before the game starts.”

The FA has confirmed that it will study the footage to try and ascertain whether Mancini’s claims that he is brandishing an imaginary yellow card, and not a red, are credible.

“If we feel that Roberto Mancini is holding an imaginary red card then we will have no alternative but to hand out the sort of imaginary punishment that we usually reserve for Sir Alex Ferguson,” revealed an FA spokesman.

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